Aurelia

Background


Aurelia is a tidally locked planet. That is to say, one side always faces the sun, and the other is in perpetual shadow. Despite this seemingly impossible situation, there exists a thin habitable stretch of twilight land that rings the planet. For as long as anyone can remember, things have always been like this, though legends speak of a time long ago where civilisation flourished all across the planet and the blue of its seas could be seen from the depths of space.

From what cartographers have established, the depths of the Darklands (the dark face of Aurelia) are locked in a permanent ice age, whereas amidst the burning wastelands of the Brightlands (the sun-facing portion of Aurelia), there exists a ferocious storm that rages endlessly, powered by the heat of the sun. Nevertheless, one can appreciate that map-making is a particularly risky career choice on the planet (literally a dying profession).

Though the severity of the land might imply divine wrath or abandonment, that could not be further from the truth. Spirituality is a trait many Aurelians can identify with - indeed, mortality and spirituality most certainly go hand in hand. Most known Aurelian settlements feature a robust belief in one or more major religions.

However, there is another reason for the spiritual renaissance. Arcane power is not something that someone can merely study into being. One must be born with the initial spark of magic in them before they can hone their craft. For wizards, this path is walked by read and rote, whereas for sorcerers, self-expression and discovery are often the keys to power (that is not to say that wizards are always completely bookish or that sorcerers are all flighty and non-academic). As the situation stands, the most common path towards wielding some form of magic is by taking up the worship of a divine being.

The power divide between those that can bend reality to their will and those that can't is not something new to most Aurelians. Even non-magic users feel the need to learn magic despite their inability to use it in the first place, so they will be able to better resist its effects. Warriors take up special training to combat magic in all its forms. Others have taken to physics and engineering, constructing mechanical tools that allow them to work on par with magic users. Whatever the case, harsh reality has made its point clear: weakness is an unacceptable trait, and one must always be wary of power - especially if it lies in the hands of another.